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Refrigerators are an integral part of everyday life to the point where it is almost impossible to image our day without them. As in our everyday life, refrigeration units are also widely used for industrial purposes, not only as stationary units but also for transporting cold goods over long distances. In this blog, we will focus on the simulation and modeling of such an industrial refrigeration unit.
Industrial Refrigerator
Like any stationary refrigeration unit, a unit used for cooled transportation includes an intermediate heat exchanger, a pump, an evaporator, a compressor, a condenser, and a throttle. The most common refrigeration scheme uses three heat fluids in the industrial refrigeration cycle. There is Water, which is used for heat removal from Refrigerant- R134A and Propylene glycol 55%. These other fluids are used as intermediate fluids between the refrigerator chamber and refrigerant loop. The working principle of all fridge systems are based on the phase transition process that occurs during the refrigerator cycle shown in Figure 1. The propylene glycol is pumped into the evaporator from the heat exchanger, in which it cools and transfers heat to the refrigerant. In the evaporator, the refrigerant boils and gasifies during the heat transfer process and takes heat from the refrigerator. The gaseous refrigerant enters the condenser due to the compressor working, where its phase transition occurs to the liquid state and cycle repeats. Read More
Waste heat boilers are a sophisticated piece of equipment important for recovering heat and in turn protecting the environment. Waste heat boilers are needed during the operation of facilities in the energy sector such as gas turbine plants and diesel engines, as well as in metallurgy and other industries where excessive heat of high temperature up to 1,000 degrees form during the technological processes. Waste heat boilers are used to recover excess heat energy, as well as to increase the overall efficiency of the cycle. Another feature of waste-heat boilers used at these installations is to protect the environment – by disposing of harmful emissions.
This article discusses the accurate modeling of these sophisticated waste heat boilers. We will consider the simulation of a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG), which is used in a combined steam-gas cycle for utilizing the outgoing heat from a gas turbine plant and generating superheated steam, using the programs thermal-fluid network approach and complexes of optimization.
The HRSG has four main heat exchangers: cast-iron economizer, boiling type steel economizer, evaporator with separator, and superheater.
On the one side of the HRSG, feed water is supplied from the cycle, and on another side, hot gas is supplied from the gas turbine in the process of operation. The water is preheated and goes to the steel economizer where the boiling process begins in the tubes. After the process in the economizers, the water goes to the shell side of the evaporator, where its active boiling occurs. In the separator, the steam-water mixture is divided into saturated steam and overflow. Saturated steam is sent to the superheater, where superheated steam is formed and goes to the steam turbine cylinder. Overflow water returns to the steam formation. An induced-draft fan is used for gas circulation and removal in the HRSG. The HRSG model also has a spray attemperator for steam cooling. The operation principle of desuperheater is the following: feed water is taken from the economizer and goes to the superheater section, passes to superheated steam flow through nozzles, finely divided water droplets mix, heat up and evaporate and as a result, the steam is cooled.
Corresponding with the development of industrial technology in the middle of the nineteenth century, people dealt with multiphase flows but the decision to describe them in a rigorous mathematical form was first made only 70 years ago. As the years progressed, development of computers and computation technologies led to the revolution in mathematical modeling of mixing and multiphase flows. There are a few periods, which could describe the development of this computation:
«Empirical Period» (1950-1975)
There were a lot of experiments which were done during this period. All models were obtained from experimental or industrial facilities which is why using them was difficult for different cases.
«Awakening Period» (1975-1985)
Because of sophisticated, expensive and not universal experiments, the researchers’ attention was directed to the physical processes in multiphase flows.
«Modeling Period» (1985-Present)
Today, the models for multi-flow calculation using the equations of continuity together with equations of energy conservation are obtained, which allow describing phase’s interaction for different flow regimes. (A.V. Babenko, L. B. Korelshtein – Hydraulic calculation two phase gas liquid course: modern approach // Calculations and modeling journal. – 2016. – TPА 2 (83) 2016. – P.38-42.)
Technology Development
Since the time of industrial development, installation designs have undergone great changes. For example, there are shell and tube evaporators for freeze systems where the heat transfer coefficient has increased 10 times over during the last 50 years. These results are a consequence of different innovation decisions. Developments led to research into mini-channels systems, which is the one of the methods to increase intensification of phase transition. Research has shown that heat exchange systems with micro and nano dimensions have a much greater effect than the macrosystems with channels dimensions ≤3-200 mm.
In order to organize fundamental research, it is very important to understand hydro, gas dynamics and heat changes in two-phase systems with the phase transition. At present, the number of researchers using advanced CFD-programs has increased. Our team is one of the lead developers of these program complexes.
Mathematical modeling of compressible multiphase fluid flows is interesting with a lot of scientific directions, and has big potential for practical use in many different engineering fields. Today it is no secret that environmental issues are some of the most commonly discussed questions in the world. People are trying to reduce the emissions of combustion products. One of the methods to decrease emissions is the organization of an environmentally acceptable process of fuel burning with reduced yields of nitrogen and sulfur. The last blog (https://blog.softinway.com/en/modern-approach-to-liquid-rocket-engine-development-for-microsatellite-launchers/) discussed numerical methods, which can calculate these tasks with minimal time and cost in CFD applications.
For more effective use of energy resources and low-potential heat utilization, the choice of the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is justified. Due to the fact that heat is used and converted to mechanical work, it is important to use a fluid with a boiling temperature lower than the boiling temperature of water at atmospheric pressure (with working flow-boiling temperature about 100⁰C). The usage of freons and hydrocarbons in these systems makes a solution impossible without taking into account the changes of working fluid phases. Read More
